An Orphan's story
by Ariel Hayes
Summary: The story of the Shuriken female TURK of Shinra, aka Cissnei aka Shizune, beginning with her recruitment by Tseng and ending after Zirconiade. An adventure riddled with excitement and discovery, losses and gains.
1. A journey begins

Author: I feel like the story of the Shuriken female from Before Crisis is too vague, so with my powers of authoressdom I will be filling in the gaps. She came from an orphanage, and what wandered into my mind was the question "Well, what made them want to enlist a mere orphan into the TURK's ranks?" This story is my answer.

Well, enough of my rambling, **The Final Fantasy characters/world belong to Square. **

Warren: On with da fic!

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**Welcome to the Orphanage**

Shizune, a fair skinned little girl with curly red hair and amber eyes, stared out the window blankly at the street at night, and soon her eyes fell on a happy family on the street with a small brown haired child walking down the streets.

I miss my family… 

She sighed and decided to turn away from the window deciding that it wouldn't do any good thinking like that on things. She didn't want to feel jealous of people who had nothing to do with her, but she couldn't help but long for the feeling of having a family again. The orphanage's children and caretaker were her family now. Over the years of being there she had come to know many of the child residents of the orphanage. One stood out amongst the rest though, a kid by the name of Ryo. He was always fun to be around, although it hadn't always been that way. When she first met him she didn't trust him much at first because he seemed so eccentric to her. He would be extremely happy one moment, but if one slightly mean thing were said to him he would retreat into himself and curl up in the corner and not say anything more until the person apologized. He would then resume being his usual cheerful self. For some reason she found herself protecting him a lot, and it made her feel happy when he was happy. But…there was still a hidden pain in her heart from the events of her past.

If only that strange man hadn't arrived at her house. Then she would never end up here away from the sun or the flowers. It was so dank and cold under the plate of Midgar too. Last week the heater broke, but luckily Lucy the caretaker had a lot of spare blankets.

She had been brought to the orphanage by a younger couple that said that they had found her in a field by the road while they were driving home from Kalm. They told Lucy that they didn't have enough money to care for Shizune so they wanted the orphanage to take her in, especially since they couldn't find her parents anywhere.

She had been here now for so long that it felt like a new home to her, but deep down something was telling her to be free and that she had to get out of this place. These slums.

I know what I'll do! I'll get strong and then I'll take myself and everybody else in the orphanage away from the stinky plates of Midgar and to a great place like my old home! I must get stronger! I will, I will!

"Uh…Shizune? Are you okay?" a young shorthaired girl asked.

Apparently Shizune was now standing up with her fists clenched in front of her and a strangely determined look stuck on her face.

"She looks like she's having fun." A young boy sitting on a box stated and looked over with kind smile. " I'll have you know that I was thinking of serious business matters." Retorted Shizune " Someday we'll leave here Ryo, and then we'll be able to move away from this stinky place." She said looking over at the boy that was smiling at her.

Ryo was a darker skinned boy with black, gelled-back hair and yellow eyes. He was known in the orphanage for being a pushover, and the sort of person that was "too kind for their own good" No bully would dare mess with him while Shizune was around though, because she was very protective of him and would give the attackers a good thumping across the head to say the least.

"That would be nice, but where would we go?" replied Ryo.

" Anywhere! Haven't you ever thought of the outside world before? We'll go on an adventure and save the world and fight a dragon or something." Declared the red haired girl. "Out…side?" Ryo asked with a tilted head.

"You're silly Shi-shi." Said a black haired girl at the orphanage; "We're apart of the slums now."

Caretaker Lucy, an elderly woman with her fine white hair pulled into a bun and a gentle looking face, shuffled in just then and spoke with her benign old lady voice, "You kids are always full of such imagination and energy. It's just how I was when I was as little as you all. If only some of that energy rubbed off on me, then I could keep up with you all." At this she chuckled a little.

"Oh, hello Ms. Lucy" stated some of the kids when she came in. "Come now everyone, it's time for bed." "Awww…already?" everybody responded discouraged.

All of the orphans climbed into their beds after they had changed into their nightgowns and pajamas. Some even fought over top bunk. Shizune challenged Ryo to rock paper succors, lost twice, and was forced to submit the top bunk to the victor.

"Good night young'uns and sweet dreams." Lucy said right as she turned out the lights.

That night, Shizune did dream. She was standing on a circle of grass and yellow and white lilies. Everything else was pitch black around her besides the flowers and herself. The ground that she stood on seemed to illuminate the area around her just enough so that she could see though. "Where am I?" She said as she looked around. "Just what I was thinking." Said a deeper voice that came from the darkness.

Just then tall and imposing silver haired man stepped out from the shadows. Shizune had never seen a person so intimidating, yet he seemed so intriguing and alluring. Everything was just so strange about him. From his long silver hair to the way he held himself, and it was all so different. Especially his eyes, those strange luminescent green eyes Shizune had never seen before. They were beautiful, but also a little scary. He was dressed in black leather that surrounded most of his body except for his chest, which was bare for all to see. He also had matching black leather gloves and boots with not a speck of dirt on them.

_I don't think that armor is very effective, unless the leather X belt on your chest magically deflects blows. At least the white shoulder pads provide some protection I guess… _

"It's rude to stare."

Sephiroth stated coldly as he stared down at the red haired girl. Somehow she had lost herself for a while and had been staring at him blankly with her mouth open. Shizune shook her head quickly and introduced herself to the strange man; " My name is Shizune Lee, am I dreaming?" she extended out her hand to him. "Sephiroth." He responded as he looked around the room. "Uh…" she pulled her hand back to her body and looked off to the side, "Is that your name?" "Yes. I am in SOLDIER as well." "Wow! I've heard of them! Is it fun to be in SOLDIER?" Sephiroth raised his eyebrow slightly at her question and responded, "I wouldn't call it fun…but it can have its interesting moments." Shizune pulled her arms behind her head and said while looking up to him " I want to be strong, I bet all of SOLDIER is strong too. So, maybe one day I'll be in SOLDIER too." Sephiroth shook his head at the girl's statement "Ha, it is easier said than done. You can't go anywhere just saying you will do something. That's for fools to do." Shizune stuck her arms back down at her sides and scrunched in her face at this. The short girl replied " I'm no fool, I'll teach you that I can become strong!" she then tried doing some swipes at him but Sephiroth had already stuck his hand on her forehead letting her swipe at the air in a vain and childish effort to actually strike him.

"You're strange…." He said looking at her and shaking his head. "So are you." Shizune stated as she stopped her attack. An awkward silence filled the area around the two stood there facing each other. "….But…" He stated, slowly letting go of her forehead "…I suppose you're alright…for a child." Shizune stared at him for a moment confused. "Huh?…" Sephiroth shook his head looking off in the distance, "It's nothing…it's just that what you said reminded me of something another person once said to me, except his was much more harsh…He used to say, that I was magnificent specimen, and would belong no where else but where I am now." Another awkward silence ensued as Sephiroth stared into the distant darkness.

_Ah… I didn't mean to hurt his feelings or anything…Uh…maybe I should fix this somehow…come on Shizune, say something! Say anything! You can do it! _

"Uh… Hey, since you are here…um… can you teach me how to be strong? You're in SOLDIER, so you're strong and so you should know how to become strong too." Shizune replied casually unaware of how important or dangerous Sephiroth was, but mostly saying this to change the subject. "I was born strong like this… I guess people like you would call it a gift…Strength is not something learned easily." Sephiroth said stoically looking down at the flowered ground. " Oh come on, you should at least know some kind of secret ninja moves or something, right?" Sephiroth looked at her and answered "I can teach you basic sword techniques if it will make you leave me alone." " All right!" she said gleefully. A plastic katana then appeared in her hand and Sephiroth pulled his own sword from its hilt. " Pay attention, I'm not repeating any of this. This is you hold your sword…" and so the small redheaded girl learned some sword basics from the master in her strange dream.

"Take that villain!" yelled one of the younger kids in the orphanage as he smacked the sleeping red-haired girl in the head with a plank. "Owwwwww!!!" Screamed Shizune as she shot up from her bed. "You little brat!" shouted Shizune as she shot a glare at the now grinning prankster. " I'll get you for that, Tommy!" she yelled as she jumped from the bed and ran after Tommy shaking her fists of rage. They continued like that all the way to the back of the orphanage, except Shizune had managed to find another plank to counter Tommy's. Ryo and a couple other children came out to watch, drawn in by the new action that was occurring in the orphanage. And so, the plank wars waged on….

**Meanwhile at Shinra HQ:**

"We are running low on specimens that I can work with." declared a creepy high-pitched voice in the Shinra headquarters meeting room. "Haven't the victims of the Kalm incident been enough for you Hojo?" Stated Reeve. The creepy voice had belonged to ShinRa's own mad scientist, Hojo. "Aren't you a little too low in the company order to know that information, Reeve?" Reeve turned his face away from him and clenched his teeth. "I will require more samples to work with." Continued Hojo. "And just what do you suppose we should do about that?" remarked snidely the red dress clad Scarlet from her seat. " The samples must be taken without notice, so I believe that a place where the people are not important should be a suitable location to start with. " replied the mad doctor. " We should take from the poorer sections. Nobody would care if some street urchin were to suddenly go missing." Spoke the head of ShinRa. "Yes…like an orphan." Hojo added. "Then go to an orphanage and get on with those weird little experiments of yours." Scarlet said.

" Very well, Hojo, I will grant you permission to collect the orphans. Tseng will accompany you as a bodyguard." said the president of ShinRa dismissively as he waved Hojo off.

Back at the Orphanage 

"Ha! I win!" exclaimed a triumphant Shizune whose foot had been firmly planted on top of Tommy's head. "Waaaaah! Shizune's a meanie!" wailed the poor boy under her foot. "Aww….C'mon Shizune. Let him go, " commented one of the orphans who had watched the battle, "He was only playing around earlier." "He deserves it though. " stated Shizune quite seriously. She let her foot off from his head and the little boy shot out from under it and sped off like a rocket running over to Ms.Lucy to cry about his experience with the bottom of Shizune's shoe.

Moments later Ms.Lucy had come back into the main living room of the orphanage with her arm around the boy whose eyes were now puffy from crying. "Now there, there. It'll all be okay." She patted him for comfort as he sniffed. "Shizune, say you're sorry." Embarrassed, she turned her face away from her and said softly, "Sorry." Tommy perked up a little at this and exclaimed that she should look at him face to face and say it, since that's what a sincere person would do, but the moment was cut short by a knock at the door. It was an exciting and puzzling moment for the children of the orphanage because the knock could mean visitors who would want to adopt them or something more troubling such as people asking for money. Ms.Lucy was the first one to go to the door. Everybody was curious and wanted to see who it was, but Ms.Lucy told the children to stay back a ways from the door.

"Hello, I have come for these children of yours. They are all going to be ShinRa's property from now on." Creaked an unsettling voice from the door. "What? ShinRa can't possibly do that, can they? What do you mean? Who are you?" questioned the puzzled caretaker to the doctor. Shizune caught a glance of who was at the door and gasped. "Ryo" she whispered looking to her friend, "That's that man. That's him, the one who killed mother and father." Ryo shot a shocked look at her and whispered back, "Shizune…Then, does that means he's going to hurt us too?" Her eyes darted around the room looking for an answer and she shook her head replying to him that she did not know the answer.

"Yes, yes, I can't be troubled by you getting in the way. I am a busy man you know, and I have to be getting back to my work." Hojo said as he stepped right past the orphanage's caretaker and into the main room. He glanced back and Tseng and issued an order to the TURK, "Tseng, hold this woman back for me." He took one glance around the room and adjusted his glasses with hand while the other was planted firmly behind his back. "Hmm…. Yes, this will do, but it is not what I would have hoped for. No matter, good specimens do not come around very often."

_It's definitely him! What is he talking about? Specimens...? Well, what if I don't want to __be__ a specimen?_

The small redhead clenched her fists tighter at the thought of being taken away by that man. Hatred boiled and stirred in her heart, for the first time in a long while she blamed somebody. The thoughts rushed in and fused with her fury. All the rage of having her family taken from her, of being sent to the one of worst parts of Midgar in an orphanage, of being helpless, all things. It made her body shake just thinking of it all.

"Single file, please. All of you children will be going into the back of the van, understood?" he ordered to the orphans.

_**I won't let him take my friends!**_

She grabbed Ryo's arm, as he was moving forwards. "Ryo…stay." Shizune whispered as the fire of rage boiled inside her young eyes.

"Ohh, I see. So we have a couple of stragglers. You understood my order didn't you?" Hojo said looking over at Shizune and Ryo who where both firmly planted and would not budge from their standing position unlike the other children, who were obediently being loaded up into the black unknown van.

"I understood you perfectly. We're not going with you." Shizune stated firmly staring directly into his eyes. "Whaat?! Little girl, do you know who I am?" declared Hojo. Shizune growled back "Like I said, we're not going with you." Hojo was taken back by the comment, and studied her a little not sure what to think. He then cackled and exclaimed, "This one has spirit!" "I have more than spirit." She replied feeling her hate grow. Hojo bent down to study her more closely, "Hmm. You show a lot of promise as a new sp—" he was cut short by the crack of Shizune's knuckles across the right side of the old man's jaw. Lucky for her, but not for Hojo, she had been given the gift of strong bones and had left the mad doctor's jaw a mess. "Ryo! We have to leave now!" Yelled Shizune as she tugged Ryo along with her out the back door away from Hojo. They ran as fast as they could across the wooden floor to the stone and concrete of the outside streets. "Shizune…that sure was brave…" Ryo whispered as he ran beside her to his freedom.

"Fools! What are you all standing around for!? I want that specimen retrieved right now!" screeched the now enraged Hojo who was holding onto his own bloody jaw. Tseng suddenly straightened up and went right out the door with a couple of ShinRa MP's behind him. The chase was on for the one person in the world who had managed to successfully punched Hojo right on the chin. It shall forever be a little crooked on the right….

Mission Start! 

Pursued by ShinRa soldiers the two children ran as fast as their legs could carry them through the dismal and dark streets of the slums "This way!" Shizune yelled and pulled Ryo suddenly behind an alleyway's trashcan. The two scrunched in their legs into their chests breathing heavily and trying to catch their breaths from the running. The sound of heavy footsteps going past them could be heard echoing into the distance. Silence set in on the two children as they hid.

"So, what do you think will happen to our friends?" Ryo asked looking up from his knees over to Shizune. With this thought in her mind Shizune looked down at her feet and hugged her legs replying, "I don't know, Ryo. He's a bad man, Ryo." "Oh…" Ryo looked up at the upper plate above them, " Shizune, even if we're caught…we'll always be together, right?" Shizune looked over at him with a perplexed look and replied, "What? I dunno, maybe." She stood up and continued, "But whatever happens I know that we are going to survive this." She smiled softly at him and helped him up. "Let's go, Ryo." The two walked along and searched for an area that the orphan children used to say was the path to outside of

Midgar.

"Tseng, this is Veld. How far has the target gotten from you?" Echoed the voice from Tseng's cell phone. Tseng replied back into his phone, "Not far, sir. They're moving quickly though, but we're waiting for them to arrive over the wall of Midgar, and soldiers are searching the sector we were in as we speak." "Good work, Tseng. You've always been the tactician." "Thank you sir. Tseng out." He hung up his phone and stared at the section of Midgar the children had talked about. "And now…we wait."

Shizune climbed up over Ryo's shoulders and poked her head out over the wall. "We made it Ryo!" She exclaimed proudly pulling Ryo up with her onto the wall. "No, Shizune, there's something wrong." Ryo said looking worried at his friend. Shizune paused and looked around getting the same feeling he was. She shook it off though and told Ryo that it was nothing, so they proceeded to climb down from the wall. "Well that was easy" Shizune said under her breath, but just as they had made it some ways from the wall they heard the blare from a helicopter a ways away from them. "Please do not move, we have you in sight and will be taking you in."

"Shoot. Looks like we'll have to run through it." Shizune said looking over at Ryo. "What?! Are you crazy?! Run right through?!" Ryo shouted with a shocked expression. "Yes. Right on through." And they did, they ran right under the helicopter and sped off away from it as the helicopter took its time in turning all the way around. The two where in the wastelands around Midgar now and they continued running through until they had come across a cliff facing the ocean.

_What if I can't make it out of here alive?_ The thought hit her heart hard like a heavy rock. She was still so young and there was still so much out there that she might be able to accomplish, even if she was just an orphan.

There may not be any hope for me, but maybe I can save Ryo.

"Ryo! Run!" She said pushing her friend away from her "Shizune!" He yelled looking back to the girl. "Just keep going! I'll be fine! You just need to live on!" She screamed back as she took off full speed for the edge of the cliff. She skidded to a stop at the very end of it and spun around to face the helicopter that was now in front of her. "This isn't good…" she murmured.

"Please, stand down and we promise not to hurt you." A stern voice called from the speakers on the helicopter. Shizune took a step back from the hovering helicopter and felt her foot slip slightly on the edge of the cliff behind her. _Not good. It's either being taken in by these strange people or falling off the cliff. _ She looked over her shoulder at the ledge hoping for some hidden way out. "So, will you give up and cooperate with us now?" spoke the voice from the helicopter.

_Mother…what would you do in this predicament?_ Just as that thought passed her mind she noticed that there was a waterfall flowing down through a cave opening on a lower section of the cliffs. _ Maybe I __can__ make it out of here alive then if I just… _ "No thanks, I'll take my chances!_"_ Shizune yelled as she turned towards the cliff and took one huge leap off the edge. "No! You'll kill yourself!"

Mission Finale 

"Sir, still no sign of the target." Reported a ShinRa grunt to Tseng. Tseng shook his head and looked along the water's bank. " Jumping off a cliff… what a reckless thing to do" He mumbled to himself. He knew that the Turks were an intimidating group of people, but he never expected that a little girl would be so scared that she'd choose to risk her life over the cliff rather than live by cooperating with them. It was understandable though considering that the mission had originally been to seek out new specimens for a madman to play with. Tseng looked down and shook his head grieving silently feeling sorry and responsible for the children who had been taken. The possibility of this girl's death weighed even heavier on him though, for it would be his own fault and not just because of orders. He lost him self for a moment thinking of all the different strategies he could have used to avoid having her come to a cliff.

"Sir! We found something!" a man called out on the far end of the water's bank. Tseng looked up suddenly shaken from his thoughts. Tseng walked over to where the small girl was lying unconscious. "Hm….You know what I think?" Tseng said looking over at the grunt. "Sir?" the grunt responded confused. "I think…that she would make a great Turk." Tseng carefully scooped up the small red-haired girl in his arms and headed back to the helicopter. "We're going back to the orphanage." Tseng told the pilot of the helicopter. "Huh? How come?" responded the operator. "I've got somebody I'd like to adopt." "Sure thing then!"

_This time the blood is not on my hands_

**End of mission**


	2. A step forward

Author: Ah, I'm sorry for not updating in a so long. I've been really busy with college art projects. I needed another chapter of this, and so here it is. The story fast-forwards to Shizune's life in ShinRa with some minor flashbacks. This is before she became a TURK, so she will have some more interactions with some of the other characters of Shinra and not just the TURKs.

Warren:**Final Fantasy characters/world belong to Sqaure not us poor people writing fanfics on the internets.**

Author: Got that right…but someday…

Warren: On with da fic!

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"Hurry Shizune, we have a busy day ahead of us today," urged a worried Tseng to the small red haired girl who, at the moment, was busy wrestling on a jacket around her small frame. 

"Why's it so important, Tseng?" asked Shizune a little confused. Tseng smiled gently down at her and replied calmly,

"We're meeting the president's son today. He's about your age, you know, so I think you will get along fine with him."

Shizune tilted her head to the side and blinked her amber eyes while the information clicked around inside her head.

"Is he nice?" she asked to her Wutain foster father.

Tseng cleared his throat and looked away from her with a grimace.

"Well, uh, I wouldn't exactly call him "nice" but…uh…d-don't worry about that. It's best to just think positive while around him…" Tseng said while his own thoughts trailed off into the distance.

He wasn't even sure if he believed his own words while he was saying them. Rufus had a habit of shocking people with the unusual blunt harshness of his comments, and he wasn't even certain what to expect when Shizune is left with him, since she had a similar habit of blurting out strange and shocking comments. Such things like saying to a ShinRa executive,

"Hey, fat man, you're pants are unzipped." Or saying to a wigged secretary, "Is that _really_ your real hair?"

Tseng sighed remembering all the times he'd been shocked and embarrassed by this child. Lately, it seemed that she had become even harder to control with her wild orphan nature. It made him think that when it came to work or child rearing, he'd rather pick work. It was easier after all.

"Will I have you there with me, Tseng?" Shizune asked again to him knocking Tseng out of his thoughts.

"No, I have business with the president. You'll be left alone to talk to his son, Rufus." Tseng said and paused for a second then added with the stern voice of a parent,

"Behave yourself while you're around him."

Shizune grinned widely to Tseng "Will do." She retorted gleefully.

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It had been three months since Tseng took me into the ShinRa tower. It was so much larger and fancier than anything I had ever known. It's rooms were always clean and the even the walls were elegant and were kept sparkling clean; none the less, that building was my prison. 

I got used to it pretty fast, but I couldn't help but miss Ryo and all of my other friends from the orphanage. I even missed the kids who acted up. It was so much more alive in that orphanage than inside of the cold walls of the tower, and the people here were even colder. Most people in the tower acted as though they were parts of a cold, emotionless machine. In fact, it was not unusual to see a regular employee take on the same steely- eyed look and almost mechanical kind of persona that Tseng had. Sometimes I even found myself slipping into that mood at times to blend in with the rest around me, but, deep down, I would always be that spunky orphan from the slums on the inside. In the times where the Shinra tower grew the coldest, I often missed being apart of the unpredictable and eventful lifestyle that I had as a slums orphan.

I missed playing with my friends from that old place, and I missed Ryo and Caretaker Lucy a lot, too. Ryo I missed the most, though, since I had been the one to leave him on his own after our escape. As I wandered down the hall to the company's elevators, I thought about what weak, dependant Ryo's life must be like living on his own now, and I thought of how great it would be like to meet him again, especially if I actually became a TURK.

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**Author:**Sorry to cut things short right here, but I'm in a bit of a metal block on how to go about adding what I want to add into this story, but at least I finally got this posted up. 

**Warren:** Please be sure to read and review. We accept suggestions as well for how to write this story.


	3. The president's son

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Author: Thank you very much to whom ever wrote the reviews on the Cissnei story or favored it. It's given me a little more confidence to write another chapter of this, and I must apologize if Cissnei sounded a little bit whiney in this, but she's young and has been through Hojo destroying her family and taking away her friends and then being sort of "enslaved"/adopted into the same company that destroyed said family and friends. You'd be kind of whiney and crazy too. (Oh, I've been considering that there could be a chance for romance in this fic, but most of Cissnei's love stuff is kind of one sided, sadly... ^^;)

Also, there _is_ a reason for the whole Ryo thing popping up here and there, but that's yet to be revealed.

Aaaand… As for the ones that were talking trash about this fic, screw you live journal bitches up the ass with a spiky pole. _ (You know who you are. D: )

**The Final Fantasy characters/world belong to Square.**

Anyways, here is the next chapter of the story. Please enjoy. =)

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They stood there looking into their reflections within the cold metal doors of the Shin-Ra tower's elevator. Tseng said nothing and merely waited without words, and without an expression to offer the young girl that stood beside him, staring into the same surface as his adopted daughter. He instead, rather nonchalantly, allowed her to drift off into what he thought to be the silly daydreams of a child, letting Cissnei lose herself within her own thoughts.

She was no daydreamer though. She was putting serious thought to this meeting when she realized that she was completely clueless about what sort of person this president's son was. There had never heard much of him before now, as though he was some secret weapon, to be kept hidden. Tseng never mentioned much about him, but according to Tseng at least, when she did ask about him, this boy wasn't exactly what you would call "nice", which was understandable; he is the son of the ever-ruthless President Shin-Ra after all. She understood that now, though the understanding did nothing but send her young mind deeper into contemplation amidst the growing awkward silence within the elevator. She was Tseng's daughter, and at the same time, he was a total stranger to her.

A wandering mind imagines all sorts of things and the wandering mind of a young girl knows no limits. And so it was that young Cissnei had started to imagine what this unknown boy would be like, to prepare for a confrontation that would be impossible to prepare for. She knew of his father. She knew he loved money and power more than anything, and she knew him to be indifferent towards most other things. She would not _be_ in Shinra's walls if the president were the caring sort.

But she didn't know of this son of his. She was optimistic, she wanted friends, anybody would do, but her senses told her to stay away from him. Nevertheless, in a very innocent, optimistic way she still had hopes that he wouldn't be mean to her. Although, some say that truth is a deaf listener when it comes to hearing what people _wish_ for things to be like. Unfortunately, the odds were leaning towards him turning out to be a bit of a brat, so Cissnei started to think of various ego-busting plots of dastardly design.

No mind games for today though, for Tseng had already laid down the rules for their get together. On this day, there was to be no name calling or getting into trouble with this one, but in Cissnei's heart hung this hanging, nagging ominous feeling, the sort that makes your heart skip a beat and your stomach dance, that somehow there would be trouble, and, in a crazy way, she loved it. She loved every anxious, heart pounding moment of it all, for in her boring life she wanted to stir up some chaos in this overly ordered prison of a place, or so she viewed it. Cissnei wanted to find her adventure, and Shinra's son would give her that. Somehow this little girl knew it, too.

Although, at the same time, this feeling also brought to her nothing more than a hanging anxiety, and in a small attempt to find solace she couldn't help but feel the need to shift her shaking fingers around the soft pockets of the denim jacket that she was wearing. In her nervous effort she had found a small, grooved stone in one of the right pockets to preoccupy her shaking fingers with. It was a worry stone for times like these, when one is annoyed with worries. She roughly rubbed at the smooth surface of the stone, attempting to clam her nerves and tame her mind into focus as she waited by her foster father's side. Yet, her worry and excitement persisted like an eddy in a current within her small frame. It wasn't Tseng's ever-overbearing presence or the potential of Rufus being the worst person on the face of Gaia that she now minded; it was that annoying ever-present feeling of trouble brewing.

As the doors to the elevator slid open to the topmost floor of the Shin-Ra building, they stared, no longer at her own reflection, but at the large polished down lobby floor in front of her. The man next to her, Tseng, then took the small girl by the arm led her quickly past the turns of the corridors, dragging Cissnei past the secretaries' desks. As they moved past them, one introverted brunette had tried shyly to greet Tseng but failed greatly as he sped by with the girl in tow. Try as she might, the young girl that he was dragging now was nearly tripping all over herself to keep in pace with the break neck speed her future boss was going at. No blame to her though, as I doubt that there would be anybody who could keep up with that pace, save for maybe Reno, but that's another story, I'm sure.

"Up those stairs is the office." Tseng turned, mentioning to her, his hand motioning towards the stairs, "We'll head up there now, but keep in mind to behave your self." He had added in his rush, drilling the reminder of politeness into the young brain again.

As he took her hand again, he began to lead her up the tacky purple stairs they had seen from the desks. It was the only color in the room, though she felt that they could have chosen better colors to cheer the place up, to say the least. Up and up they went, up Shin-ra's cheap royal rug and into a bear's den to face the beast inside… and they were late. Shinra hates lateness.

When they had finally reached the top floor, floor 70, the president's office, Tseng finally let go of her hand and set the small red haired girl free from him. She straightened herself up and took in the huge sight of the office in front of her and gaped at it all. The president's desk was enormous, well lit, with a view, and surprisingly clean. And, next to amongst the array of screens, monitors, and soft, yellowed lights sat an equally enormous man, nestled comfortably within the plush of a rather large and important looking purple chair. The office's wealthy, modern look was so much in her eyes, and it was so beautiful.

That bastard didn't deserve all of this, she thought, thinking of all of the kids back in the slums who had grown up with absolutely nothing. She had always listened to the adults in the slums back home when they spoke of Shinra and had taken in and absorbed every word they said as truth. They used to say that Shinra caused the situation under the plate and it's president, and that he was to blame for everybody's pain and suffering. Every time the orphanage went without food, Shinra was to blame, every time the orphanage lost power, it was Shinra's fault. Dirty drinking water, Shinra, overpricing, Shinra, polluted air, definitely Shinra, and when one of them died from it all…

She quickly shook the terrible thought from her head and attempted to refocus on the present. It took every muscle in her to keep a still and composed look upon her face as she stared at the face of that corrupt old man in front of both her and Tseng. President Shinra leaned forward from his chair and addressed Tseng as he started moving himself out from behind the massive desk.

"Ah, Tseng, you're late. How unusual of you."

"I'm sorry sir. There were some…minor distractions along the way." Tseng apologized, bowing slightly in respect.

"Be sure not to let it happen again then. Now, we have business to discuss."

"Yes sir." Tseng replied obediently.

The large man was now out from behind his desk and moving towards Cissnei. She tensed up as he patted the top of her head, as though she were a pet dog. She felt every hair on the back of her neck stand up in resentment as soon as she was touched.

"So you're the girl I was hearing about! Welcome to Shin-Ra, you're going to make a fine employee some day, little girl." He stated, his words full of phony exuberance

"I don't…want to work for you." She replied boldly, narrowing her eyes at the fat man.

"Haha. Now why's that?" He laughed.

"Because you're evil." She growled.

Taken aback by the unexpected words, he raised his eyebrows at the fiery child, now glaring, in front of him. He sneered and threw a cold, dirty look her way, something that frightened Cissnei and made her run back, hiding her face behind her foster father.

"Bold words, but you don't have a choice." The president sneered, "You're going to make this company a lot of money in the future, child. I expect to see results."

"I have to go Cissnei." Tseng stated, looking over towards the cinnamon haired child, who was now staring back at him with large brown eyes, full of questions. Hesitating, he managed to pull himself away from her, turning to follow the President out into a different room to discuss important Turk matters. Dangerous matters at that; possibly filled with death and the like.

She was completely alone now, left by herself without even being officially introduced to Rufus, as though he was never a big issue to begin with. Perhaps they forgot all about their play date. Feeling the bitter sting of neglect she turned towards the desk and kicked it, letting out a shout of frustration into the empty room.

"Don't be so ticked off at everything he does. You're not special. My old man's always like that towards new people." Said a voice from the corner of the one corner of the room.

"Huh…?" Cissnei sounded.

Curious, she wandered towards the place where she had heard the voice come from. From beyond the massive desk she found, hiding behind a pillar, a blond boy, about her age, sitting down, legs pulled up to his chest, and with the sternest look she'd ever seen on a kid her age before. She gawked, staring at the oddity before her.

"Man you're slow. Don't you know who I am?"

"You're…Rufus Shinra?"

"Correct."

"Well…uh…I'm Cissnei!" She said smiling politely in counter to Rufus's sour attitude.

"…Yeah…. Okay. That's nice. Now leave me alone." He said, crossing his arms and turning his body away from her.

Rufus paused for a moment and turned his head slightly to see that she had not left him yet and frowned slightly.

"Why aren't you leaving?" he complained.

Cissnei shrugged and leaned forwards on her hands.

"Got nowhere to go." She replied simply.

"Hmph."

"So, why aren't you leaving?" she echoed him.

"You'd probably just follow me…"

"No I wouldn't."

"…."

For a while, there was nothing but silence between them and the quiet hum of electricity.

_ What the heck is his problem?! I came here to be his friend, and now I find out that he's beyond bratty. He's completely unsociable!_ Cissnei swung her feet a little impatiently to her thoughts as she cursed her luck at being stuck alone in a room with Rufus all day. _There must be a way through that thick armor of his…_ and that's when a simply devious little plan floated into her head, making her grin mischievously at her play mate, like a cat with a bird.

Rufus had barely the time to look over at her when he saw the blur of a red haired child catapult into him, arms outstretched and fingers wiggling to tickle him.

"What are you…hahaha…hey! Stop that! Ahhahha. Hey! Hey! I'm telling your dad on you!" he screamed in the middle of his loud fits of laughter.

"Pft. No way." Cissnei grinned as she continued her tickle torture on the squirming blond child.

She took in the sight rather pleasingly as she watched him twist and turn, laughing uncontrollably through the torture. Now this was what kids should be like, she thought to herself, proud of the work she had done.

He launched himself sideways away from her, kicking himself free from her hands and setting down on his side a foot away from her reach.

"Aha….ha…haa. phwew" he gasped, fidgeting a little from the aftershock of being tickled for the first, and possibly only, time in his life. It was an odd feeling, laughing like that.

Grinning and gasping for breath he had carelessly let down his defenses on her. It was such an unexpected move, and he was caught off guard in the middle of an important thought; thoughts about his father, and thoughts about success. This time though, before Cissnei started to edge in for a second attack, he caught himself before he began berating himself again. He stopped suddenly, realizing that he was still next to Cissnei, grinning like a fool and completely unreserved in front of her. Rufus jerked slightly, and quickly sat up again, catching Cissnei's arm in the process.

"…don't….don't do that again." He instructed, staring sternly at her.

Her smile slowly faded and he started to become painfully aware that he had somehow hurt her feelings by bringing their playtime to a sudden halt. Kids weren't meant to be so serious, he knew this, but he couldn't remember a time other than this when he _was_ a kid. He was born to become a leader, and he knew that she was going to be twisted to serve him one day, twisted by his own father. Whatever good times they would have, would not last. He knew it, and it hurt. He wasn't allowed this childhood that Cissnei was trying to create with him, and she was too new, too naïve to realize this yet.

"No…we can't be like this." He said slowly and calmly to the girl next to him, as he let her arm go.

"Why not?…" she spoke silently, her head drooping down sadly.

"Because…having friends is a weakness."

"Why, though?" she continued to question him, feeling a strange mix of anger and sadness all at once.  
"…Cissnei." He replied, looking down, hiding the emotion in his eyes behind his bangs. "Do you know… what I am?" Rufus asked.

Cissnei tilted her head before answering him.

"President Shinra's son."

"Right, but do you know what I will be?"

She paused again, shaking her head to him.

"I'm going to be president too one day. That's what I'm told, and that's what I _will_ be. Now…do you know what _you_ will be?"

She shook her head at his question again, naïve innocence showing in her brown eyes.

"You're going to be a Turk one day. A slave, a servant, and you will _never_ be able to _not_ be one."

"That's not true!" she exclaimed objectively.

"Oh is it now? What makes you think that you can stop anything this company does? Look how huge it is. Shinra controls the entire world. Don't you get it? He can kill you if you don't help the company."

_To hell with the world, Shinra controls us too._ Rufus thought.

Rufus was right, she realized. It was all too real. The memories of her parent's death flooded back to her now, as though they had broken through the wall a dam, and flashed one by one through her mind . Hojo, the deafening fire of gunshots followed by motionless corpses falling in slow motion to the ground, heavy and dead, hitting the floor like heavy sacks of flour, and a house swallowed up and eaten by flames; it had been a nightmare come to life. It was her nightmare. Was she to end up exactly like them one day if she fought back against her captivity? Servitude could save her, but was the cost of her freedom, of her soul, really worth it? How unsettling to have so many questions in the mind of one so young.

She shook her head, lowering herself down to sit next to Rufus. The two fell silent again next to each other, as both of them stared downward, too stubborn to cry.

Rufus felt a twang of guilt in his heart as he slowly looked over at Cissnei. He stared at her, and soon found that she was staring back at him in the same way, both wanting to be comforted, both wanting to somehow express something that was beyond their years, beyond their ability to express, the fear of being alone.

Cissnei felt herself wanting to cry. She didn't want to face death, and certainly didn't want to be alone. To face death would mean that she wouldn't have to be a servant, but to become a servant would mean solitude…for all she knew, possibly for a very long time… Instead of tearing up, the small, fragile red headed girl found her self leaning fully into the young Rufus Shinra, embracing him and hiding her face within his white outfit.

Rufus tensed immediately upon feeling her touch, and forced himself to relax and regain his composure again. He stared at her, slightly apologetic for his earlier harsh words, and rubbed her hair gently, almost petting her in his attempt to comfort her. He was uncomfortable, nevertheless he let her soft soul penetrate and touch into his own frosted one.

Setting his head upon hers, still stroking her for a time, he gathered his thoughts, thinking of something to do, for something to amend their problems.

He paused, his ice blue eyes fixated down at her now.

"Cissnei?" He asked, drawing her attention upwards towards him from his shirt, "Do you want to escape from here?"

Cissnei smiled weakly at his request.

"Yeah… Let's fly away from this cage." She gently replied with a calm smile.

And so began an adventure unlike any other, in which friends took flight on wings unbound, upon peril filled paths which none could ever turn from, into the darkness to find the light once lost.

* * *

Warren: In case you didn't notice, this chapter took a while to write up. We apologize in advanced.

Author: Yeah…College eats one's life at times. Much love and thanks for the ones that have been reading and enjoying this fic, by the way. ^~^ Review please!


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